


Ask Me

by TheSpasticFantastic



Series: A Tale of Two Cities [1]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25070275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpasticFantastic/pseuds/TheSpasticFantastic
Summary: Modern AU:  Agnarr and Iduna are graduate students in NYC when they meet.
Relationships: Agnarr & Iduna (Disney), Agnarr/Iduna (Disney)
Series: A Tale of Two Cities [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815652
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Ask Me

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is part of a modern AU series I wrote on Tumblr for @couragedontdesert me as part of a fic swap. As always, thank you Fericita for beta-reading and letting me know what worked and what didn't.

She met him at a party. A raucous affair to kick off the start of the academic year that was packed with Columbia graduate students all jammed into a small apartment reeking of cheap beer and sweat. Iduna had been in the United States for all of three weeks when one of her roommates had dragged him over.

“He’s Norwegian too!” She yelled over the din and then vanished back into the crowd.

“Oh?” Iduna could only imagine how her face must have lit up. It was hard to feel so alone across the ocean from her family. “Where are you from?”

“Minnesota.” He laughed. “My mom is American, but my dad came over after the war. I’m Agnarr.” He stuck out his hand and she shook it. “And you are?”

“Iduna. I just arrived.”

He blinked and broke into a wide grin. “Oh! You’re actually Norwegian!”

And then he launched into a long lecture about the history of Norway. He was training to be a historian. It took her turning on her heel and simply walking away twenty minutes into his rambling about the unorthodox, but brilliant, methods of Thomas von Westen before he shut up. He chased after her as she left.

“Did I offend?”

“I’m Sami.” And he paled and apologized. So at least he knew that much. He apologized the next day when he ran into her in Lerner Hall while she was eating her lunch. He seemed sincere and gracious and there wasn’t anyone else who spoke Norwegian fluently, so she allowed him to eat with her.

He asked her question after question. About her upbringing, her family, her culture. She had hesitated to say too much at first, wondering if he was simply probing for a project related to one of his Scandinavian history classes or trying to pay penance for his blunder at the part. But when they crossed paths the following week, he had clearly listened to what she had told him and cared about it, asking after her family and friends she had mentioned back home. 

As the fall semester wore on, they saw more and more of one another. He turned out to be an excellent study partner when she wanted to talk through a biology concept in her native tongue and he often asked her for help translating Norwegian texts. They started going to Koronets for pizza study sessions after they were “sushed” in the library for the third time in one hour while sharing a laugh.

That winter, when her roommates were planning a skiing trip to the Catskills and asked if she knew anyone who might want to join them, he was the first one she thought to invite. They spent the spring walking in Riverside Park or taking the LIRR to the beach. He hugged her so enthusiastically that he lifted her off the ground when she told him of the fellowship that would keep her in New York that summer. And she surprised him with a 19th-century edition of the Poetic Edda she found in a second-hand store in Oslo to celebrate his summer teaching residency with his favorite professor. 

It was a smaller party to celebrate the end of their first year of graduate school. Many of their friends had already travelled home or to various field sites. But there was beer and spirits and Agnarr brought mead that his father brewed in their basement. They were sitting comfortably on a couch, passing the bottle between them and she felt warm from crowded bodies and the honey wine.

She took a final swig and began to fan her face. “I’m dizzy.”

“You are? Fresh air is in order!” He grabbed her hand and helped her to her feet. He jimmied open a window and helped her out onto the fire escape. She sighed with relief as the cool air hit her face. She sat on the metal step as Agnarr settled in next to her. The building was old, the fire escape was narrow, and their sides were pressed together. She felt her cheeks flush. He shut the window to muffle the commotion of the party. The sounds of the city drifted seven stories up to where they sat.

They sat in easy silence for a few minutes.

“I’ve, uh, been wondering about asking you something.” Agnarr rubbed the back of his neck. She noticed that his cheeks were flushed as well. “But I don’t know how to ask.”

“I won’t translate your qualifying exam texts.” She teased.

“I wouldn’t ask you to do that.” He grinned. “I’d bribe you.”

“Smart man.” She giggled and hugged her legs. “What do you want to ask?”

“Well . . .I want to ask you to go out with me.” She froze. Agnarr bit his lip and shrugged. “I mean, I know we’ve gone out plenty. To Koronet’s. To the Catskills. Long Island. As friends. I like spending time with you more than anyone else, Iduna. And, you know, I’d like to spend more time with you. You’re my best friend here. But, um, if you don’t feel the same way then, you know, I still hope we can hang out and study and stuff.”

Iduna tried to suppress a smile as she recalled her most recent weekly international phone call with her mother. Her mother who always seemed to have a better idea of what was going on with Iduna’s social life than Iduna did. Her mother had told her “that boy is going to ask you out before long”.

“So ask me.”

“Hm?”

“Ask me out.” And she mirrored the wide grin that bloomed across his face.


End file.
